


The Moment I Knew

by rosequartzstars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Oneshot, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, brief mention of "sleeping together", brief mention of alcohol, brief mention of potentially-ptsd nightmares, groom's speech, none of those go beyond mere brief mentions, rff 2020, romione, romione fic fest 2020, romione oneshot, wedding speech
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosequartzstars/pseuds/rosequartzstars
Summary: At the dinner table during he and Hermione’s wedding, Ron stands up to deliver his groom’s speech before the first bride and groom dance, about the moment he knew she was the one. (Romione oneshot)
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	The Moment I Knew

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Romione Ficlet Fest 2020 on Tumblr, for the prompt "their wedding day." :)
> 
> You can see the original, unabridged version here: https://romioneficfest.tumblr.com/post/621835904446824448/the-moment-i-knew

"Witches and wizards, if I could just have your attention, please! And I mean it, because I'm getting real tired of clinking this fork against this wineglass like some Muggle —no offense to my in-laws, of course—, and if I try to charm them to do it I'll probably go overboard and it'll break and that won't be good for anyone… So if I could have your attention, please! … That's better.

"We're here today, together as we have so many times before, not so you can all take advantage of the complimentary alcohol we've so kindly provided (I'm looking at you, Hagrid, I know that's your third tankard), but to celebrate the fact that Hermione has officially agreed to sleep with _me_ and me only forever — _ouch_ , you don't have to pinch me, I know I need to apologize to your parents again, but it was too good not to say it— but no, really, it's because this beautiful, brilliant witch next to me has somehow agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. Now that's luck, folks, and take it from someone who's seen Felix Felicis up close.

"Marriage is new. It's scary, yes, not as in a 'snatchers are chasing us across a forest and we're gonna die' way, but in the way good things should be. And like all things new, a lot of questions come with it. Like how do we choose whose side of the bed is whose, and commit to that forever? How do you raise a kid without screwing them up too badly? And how on _earth_ do I learn how to sort a sock drawer? These questions all look forward, into a future I'm overjoyed I'm getting to live, but there are some questions that lead me to look back. And from those recollections, a single question stands out, one that I change the answer to pretty much on the daily, the one I think over every night as I go to sleep next to this beautiful woman: when did I know she was the one?

"Like I said, I change the answer to this one on the reg, because living with Hermione Granger means she gives me a whole new reason to fall for her every single day, and with every passing day I spend next to her not an instant goes by that I don't think 'she's the one' all over again. We've known each other since we were eleven, after all, and I've loved her pretty much the whole time since. Yes, Harry, stop looking at me like that, even in first year— but nearer the end, that I'll admit. So if you asked me to pick out just one instant when I knew, when I was sure— well, I'd be hard-pressed to find just one.

"I could say it was yesterday, when I'd scarcely woken up and I was still all groggy, but my eyes managed to open just enough for me to see her already sitting up in bed, frowning down at her book and scribbling something onto it. Seven-thirty in the morning, and the woman wasn't just reading, she was annotating! I went back to sleep, sure, but to see her entranced by her reading just never gets old— which is a good thing, I guess, because I don't think I can count on her ditching the books anytime soon.

"I could say it was a few months ago, when she got me surprise tickets to a Cannons game —it wasn't even my birthday or anything—, and then she spent the game telling me all these facts, because she'd read a book to be able to understand my favorite team. I didn't even mind— I complain about her lectures, but the truth is, I think I learn more from them than I ever did at school.

"I could say it was a couple years back, when she proposed we move in together because 'oh, Ronald, how are you going to manage on your own'— and it's true, I don't think I could've, because she keeps me sane and grounded in a way no one else does. I told Harry back at the beginning of seventh year, before we went on our Horcrux hunt, that we wouldn't last two days without her, and though I think he needs her less now that he's made _snogging my sister_ his full-time job, it certainly holds true for me. It's pretty simple: I don't know what I'd do without her.

"I could say it was even farther back, the first time I met her parents, where I was practically soiling my pants because I was so nervous they'd think I wasn't good enough for their daughter —which they might think now, honestly, after all the things I've said in the space of the last five minutes— or that there'd be something wrong with me. And she sat me down, in a little bench a few steps from her driveway, and she held my shoulders until I was breathing normally and she told me they'd love me: not just because I was the man their daughter loved, but because I was Ron. She countered all the things I'd spent my life fearing: she told me I was good, she told me I was enough, she told me she was lucky to have me. And besides, she said, if they didn't like me, it didn't matter, because she loved me more than anyone else could. Let me tell you, when we walked in arm-in-arm, I wasn't shaking anymore, and if you ask me, that's a more magical feat than any advanced spell she's conjured, which (if you know Hermione's wandwork as well as I do) is no small thing.

"I could also say it's been every time I've woken up with a start from a nightmare, thinking I'm still _there_ , feeling the cold weight of the locket against my chest, and she's been right there to hold me, to warm me up again and let me cry it out on her shoulder, to lull me back to sleep in the comfort of her arms and her kisses. That's a good estimation of when I knew, actually, because every time it happens, I can't help but just be overwhelmed by how lucky I am to have her.

"I could say it was the time she first kissed me, when I finally showed her just how much I cared about the things _she_ cared about too, and, sure, basilisk fangs on the floor don't make for a very romantic setting, and when I told Harry it was 'now or never', I wanted that 'now' to last me an eternity. I don't need to tell all of you how hard and terrifying fighting a war is— and I don't know if I could've finished it if it hadn't been for that kiss.

"I could say it was when she was— when we were— at Malfoy Manor, and all that existed in my head was her screaming, and how much I wanted it to stop. I knew nothing would be the same if we didn't get out of there together, and I wanted more than anything to storm up and protect her, to save her; I made a promise to myself I would. The feeling didn't go away for the days at Shell Cottage she spent in my arms, and it overjoys me that, by marrying her, I'm able to keep fulfilling that promise forever.

"I could say it was that time she almost killed me with her bare hands after I came back to the forest, and she didn't talk to me for a few days. I was back with my best friends, I'd destroyed a Horcrux, the mission seemed going well; I should have been exhilarated, but all that I thought was that the only way it'd all have been worth it was if she would give me one of her lovely smiles again.

"I could say it was when we shared a dance at Bill and Fleur's wedding. Sure, I swept her up partly to get her away from Viktor —hello, by the way, I know you're sitting there all broody at a table somewhere—, but as she was steering me across the dance floor (because the thing about Hermione is that she almost always leads, and I'm perfectly happy with that) and I was holding her hand in one of mine and her waist in the other, it felt like that was where I was meant to be. Like things just fit.

"I could say it was when she helped me clean up the ink spill over my homework back in sixth year. Y'know, I actually told her I loved her then— really, I said, 'I love you, Hermione,' and she had the audacity to say I shouldn't let Lavender hear that, as if I wasn't gonna see her blush. To this day, I'm not sure she knows I meant it. Well, now I know she does.

"I could also say it was when I almost died from that poisoned mead, and she kept me company at the infirmary every day. She read me books too advanced for me to understand, she just sat there and did her homework by me, but she was there with me, like I was, back in second year when she was petrified and couldn't even hear me— but, Merlin, was I glad I could hear all the things she told me during those days. That's the thing about Hermione— she's always got something fascinating to say.

"I could also say it was when she attacked me with birds —blimey, Hermione, a lot of these moments have to do with me almost dying or you almost killing me, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all- _ouch_! I'm kidding… Ahem, like I was saying, when she attacked me with birds, in sixth year too. A spell I'd never seen before, and of course, her being Hermione Granger, it worked, and I was picking at scabs for a week after that. Strangely, though, it didn't feel so bad: it felt like she cared. And it gave me hope for us.

"I could say it was when she made that Edgecombe girl's face flare up in boils, when she gave up the DA— it was brilliant, it really was, and it showed me a different side of her. A wilder, more violent side, perhaps, but a new side of her for me to love. Besides, I guess, in the moral scheme of things, it sort of knocked her down a notch from her pedestal, which to someone like me was splendid news.

"I could say it was all throughout that summer before fifth year, where we spent so much time alone at Grimmauld Place, laughing in a bedroom and avoiding my mum's cleaning craze. I got to be with _her_ , just her, for weeks on end during that time, and it showed me just how much I liked being alone together.

"But I think, even through this myriad of all-good-answers, I think there's one moment that shines through them all, that deserves its place as the moment I knew. It was the Yule Ball, fourth year, the year it finally dawned on me that _she was a girl._ I was wearing some rather atrocious dress robes I'll never forgive my mum for —even if she murders me, by the look on her face, after I'm done talking—, when Hermione came down the stairs, looking like a dream in blue. She was radiant, and she flashed me one of those irresistible grins over her shoulder as she took Krum's hand and took to the dance floor with him. Folks, there are plenty of reasons to be jealous of a world-class Seeker, but at that moment, his Quidditch skills weren't particularly what I envied. That was when I knew she was the only girl I'd ever see like I saw her that night, even if I had to spend my whole life chasing after her.

"But tonight, the chase is over. Tonight, it's my turn: she's dressed in white now, not in blue, but she still looks like a slice of heaven; she looks even happier, if I dare say it, and it's my hand she's letting guide her to the dance floor now, for our first dance as husband and wife. But before I dance with her, I just want to take another moment to tell her how much I love her, and how —at long last, after all these years, though there's never been a shadow of doubt in my mind— she's made me the happiest man in the world, because I'm marrying the only girl there's ever been for me. And how I hope, in her life — _our_ life—, I can make her even half as happy as she's made me since the first day she barged into my train compartment and demanded to know my name.

"Cheers!"


End file.
